Olympic National Winning Streaks and Dominance

Going into Rio, the USA women’s eight in rowing has now been unbeaten since 2010, also winning the gold medal in 2008 and 2012. Impressive but that is actually “only” 2 consecutive Olympic gold medals. We often get asked what have been the longest streaks or the most dominance performance by nations in team sports, team events, individual events, and sports. Not easy to rank them, but for these categories we have prepared separate lists, which are given in chronologic order only.

USA – diving (both) – 1920-56 – 78 of 102 medals won by USA divers (next most was Sweden with 8), 30 of 34 golds won by USA divers (1 each by Australia, Denmark, Mexico, and Sweden); in this era, USA divers swept the medals in 17 of 34 events. During this time, 3 divers from each nation were allowed per event, so this can no longer occur.

China – table tennis (both) – 1988-2012 – won 24 of 28 gold medals (next most is 3 by Korea), and 47 of 88 medals in all. Chinese women have won 13 of 14 events, and Chinese men have won 11 of 14 events. In 1996, 2000, 2008, and 2012, Chinese table tennis players won all 4 events on the program.

China – diving (both) – 1992-2012 – 30 of 40 golds won by Chinese divers (4 Russia, 3 USA, 2 Australia, and 1 Greece); 70 of 120 medals won by Chinese divers (next most was Russia / Unified Team with 21) – note that after 1980, only 2 divers or diving team have been allowed per nation per event.